The Brooklyn Bureau reports that with 40 percent of businesses in Sheepshead Bay still closed after Sandy, there’s few cohesive efforts by local businesses to recover. But is this because of the area’s heavily-immigrant communities?

FreshDirect’s plan to build new headquarters in the Mott Haven has a good and a bad side, but neighbors rather have a full environmental impact study to evaluate how the added traffic and pollution will impact already high asthma rates, reports El Diario-La Prensa.

Data released by the public advocate’s office finds that small businesses in the outer boroughs receive a disproportionate number of visits by city inspectors, and consequently, a higher amount of fines, the Queens Chronicle and The Riverdale Press report.

As tens of thousands of Ecuadoreans in the metro area prepare to vote in Ecuador’s general elections this Sunday, Feb. 17, El Diario-La Prensa reports extensively on this growing South American community whose numbers reach 600,000 in the tri-state area according to estimates.

Small businesses affected by Hurricane Sandy can apply for some of the $1 million available through the city’s Small Business Assistance Grant Program. Few Chinese businesses, however, have applied, reports World Journal.

For Chinatown’s restaurants and stores, not only has business not recovered to pre-Hurricane Sandy levels, but the latest struggles come on top of the recession, a reduction in foot traffic, businesses fleeing the area, and more recently, the cold weather, reports World Journal.

Residents and businesses in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island continue to rebuild their livelihoods three months after Hurricane Sandy destroyed much of it. The community and ethnic press looks at neighborhoods and groups still struggling to recover.

Over two months after Hurricane Sandy, Ellis and Liberty Islands are still closed after damages estimated at $59 million. Extensive flooding and widespread debris have forced the closures, reports The Jewish Daily Forward.

One of the busiest bus lines in the city is the subject of a plan to improve bus service and pedestrian safety, but business owners on Webster Avenue object that it would make it harder for customers and delivery trucks to park nearby.

As the White House urged Congress to withhold $600 million in nutrition assistance to Puerto Rico, officials responded angrily that this is only the latest in a series of President Trump’s attempts to stop the flow of federal aid to the island, El Nuevo Día reports. Political analyst Domingo Emanuelli found the Trump government's actions “barbaric,” and urged Puerto Rican Republicans to reconsider their allegiance. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz said: “I shouted against Trump’s abuses from the start while others were chummy with him. Trump is not the plantation owner and we are not his slaves.” Link to original story →

The Indigenous Peoples March being held in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 18, a day ahead of the Women's March, will bring together groups from Puerto Rico to South America and Central America, reports Remezcla, to focus attention on issues from voter suppression to human trafficking to police brutality to what is called an “environmental holocaust” by activists. “I think it’s a collective cry for help because we’re in a time of crisis that we have not seen in a very long time,” says Nathalie Farfan, an Ecuadorean Indigenous woman and event organizer. Link to original story →

After vowing to create a more inclusive school system in North Carolina, the Durham Board of Education introduced a new department of second language services to serve newly-arrived immigrants who don’t speak English as a first language, Qué Pasa Noticias reports. One of the main goals of the initiative will be to coordinate a translation and interpretation system to help families participate in their children’s education. “As our Latinx population keeps growing we keep opening our schools’ doors to those arriving from all over the world,” said Superintendent Pascal Mubenga. Link to original story →

With Sen. Kamala Harris expected to announce her decision on a presidential run, The American Bazaar asks members of the Indian-American community about the potential candidacy of the California native. While some celebrated the possibility of Harris, who is of Jamaican-Indian descent, running amid the current political atmosphere, others say the country is "still not ready for a female president and certainly not a non-white." Link to original story →